This post appears in the Face Time in the Kitchen challenge.

Sometimes it isn’t WHAT you’re making in the kitchen that’s important – its that you’re in there with your family and friends MAKING memories that you will treasure for a lifetime. Now that’s important. Cooking shouldn’t be a scary process. Just get in there and have fun. So what IF you burn dinner (it happens to all of us). You have a laugh, make a sandwich or go out for dinner. Well unless it’s $25 lb diver scallops and then it’s okay to shed a few tears. But let’s not talk about that. Cooking isn’t rocket science (thank goodness because that I’m NO good at). Nobody starts out being an excellent cook. Being good at cooking is like being good at anything else. Practice makes perfect, at least with this kind of practice you get a snack.

I started out cooking with my grandparents, parents (okay mostly my Mom, ehem Dad has three awesome dishes that shouldn’t go unrecognized) and now my children. SO many of my memories revolve around food. Smelling a particular food/dish, seeing an item on a menu, spotting an ingredient at a market all trigger specific memories for me. Some are good. Some aren’t so good (liver and onions – just saying the name out loud and I can smell them – sorry Grandma -still can’t eat those) but they’re memories all the same. Now, I’m excited to create and pass food memories on to my kids.

To get our kids involved we give them age appropriate cooking tasks. Cracking eggs, stirring, measuring out ingredients, etc. these are all tasks they can do themselves and a side benefit it helps to build their confidence in the kitchen. When they can make an entire recipe themselves (even a peanut butter and jelly sandwich) boy are they proud. Something they can do on their own is making DIY Homemade Play Dough. Its a no cook recipe that can be made with kitchen pantry items, in about 10-15 minutes (they take a little longer to knead that we do but that’s okay – building memories right!). Plus is great practice for pasta and pizza making. Practice makes perfect right?

Baci!

Want to know how to build a successful restaurant? Check out BonAppetit.com’s “Out of the Kitchen”, a glimpse into the inner workings of two successful restaurants. Meet the back of the house inner circle and see how face-to-face relationships keep customers coming back for more.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Bon Appetit. The opinions and text are all mine.

Read the original on: Bell'alimiento